Wednesday, August 20, 2014

Letter to Mayor Garcetti about the LAPD

I wrote this letter to the Mayor of Los Angeles and plan to deliver it to his office today.

Dear
Mayor Garcetti:

I was
appalled to read the editorial by LAPD officer Sunil Dutta in the
Washington Post today (attached). As a six-year City of Los Angeles
employee myself I found it shameful that an Internal Affairs officer
whose duties involve investigating the misbehavior of other police
officers would have such a distorted view of the proper relationship
between the police and the citizenry they are supposed to serve.

Officer
Dutta begins innocuously, describing ideal encounters with the police
and showing how good law enforcement work can defuse charged
situations. But then he asserts that when
the police use force, it's the fault of the citizen for not properly
respecting the officer. This has it completely backwards. Respect is
earned, you can't demand it, and you sure as hell can't beat people
up if they don't give it to you.

Dutta
wants to have it both ways; he wants to say that he respects our
rights, but he also seems to think that as a cop he rules the streets
and that our rights under the Constitution somehow end if we dare to
challenge his authority. That's not how rights work. What Dutta
doesn't understand is that disrespecting
a police officer is not a crime and that the Bill of Rights is there
to protect unpopular speech and unpopular people from the abuses of
authority figures like the LAPD.

Many
police officers do exemplary, professional work. But there are also
many who are merely bullies with a badge, a gun, and a baton. They
have forgotten that their role is to enforce the law and serve the
community, and instead have twisted themselves into thinking that the
duty lies with the community to serve the cop's desire to feel
powerful and that the law is whatever they say it is.

It
is up to civilian elected officials—who
are supposed to be in charge of the police—to
make it absolutely clear that this behavior, and the attitude that
leads to this behavior, must be changed to rebuild trust between the
community and the police. As Mayor of the City of Los Angeles, I hope
that you are also appalled by Officer Dutta's editorial, and that you
work with Chief Beck on eradicating these abuses from the LAPD.